I’ve heard a lot of rumours about this as well and he still seems quite confident about being on the grid next year. He hasn’t been dropped yet by Red Bull as Speed, Liuzzi, Bourdais etc were so you never know. I really hope he’s racing next year though, no matter where it is. I’ve heard rumours that Helmut Marko want to put him in a team at the back to see how he handles it whilst also being Red Bull’s reserve driver in case either Vettel or Webber can’t race for some reason with the idea of him replacing Webber at RBR in 2013.

The only reason why these rumours are being thrown about is because people are seeing that Alguersuari is Spanish and that HRT is Spanish. Based on actual rumours that I’m seeing, I’d say HRT are probably talking with Vitaly Petrov and Giedo van der Garde. Those negotiations are going to be very involved by now, and with Alguersuari only just throwing his hat into the ring, he’s going to have a lot of hard work to do. Especially since HRT will want their driver line-up finalised as soon as possible because they want to have the F112 ready for the first test of the season.

@prisoner-monkeys – Very good points, I have also seen that van der Garde is the favourite BUT:
Petrov has also basically just thrown his hat into the ring as you put it and so is no more advanced than Alguersuari, and i haven’t seen anywhere that Petrov is linked to HRT. If he’s going anywhere it will be Marussia, which will cause a stir!
And, to be fair, this is HRT, they havent had any drivers finalised by the last test for both years so far (nearly), and they’ve signed Pedro de la Rosa for 2012 and Narain Karthikeyan for 2011, no-one saw either of these so they are very good at shocks. van der Garde has a lot of money, so does Petrov and so does the Red Bull backed Alguersuari, it’ll be about who can offer the most (and Alguersuari gets the upper hand because he is Spanish, and the team have said they want an all Spanish line-up.)

I beg to differ – here’s what Luiz Perez-Sala said in an interview published by HRT yesterday:

We are in advanced talks with several drivers but we can’t anticipate anything yet. It’s a decision we surely won’t make until the start of next year because, at this stage, who will be the team’s second driver for next season is perhaps the least urgent one right now.

Petrov has also basically just thrown his hat into the ring as you put it and so is no more advanced

Petrov has been on the driver market for at least ten days. The announcement that Romain Grosjean would driver for Lotus came before 6am on December 9, suggesting that a contract was signed some time on December 8 (unless Lotus and Grosjean pulled an all-nighter negotiating). At some point, the team had to make it clear that Petrov would not race for them before the deal with Grosjean was finalised (or Petrov had to do it, since Eric Boullier said the decision was his). Petrov also has $15 million in sponsorship to his name, and for a team like HRT, that represents nearly a third of their budget ($50-60 million). Alguersuari, on the other hand, has been a free agent for just four days and does not have sponsorship that is as extensive as Petrov’s (I’d be surprised if Cespa were willing to put up more than $5 million for him).

Petrov to HRT would be a shocker! I personally would expect a rookie since the Virgins and HRT’s love putting rookies in only to sack them halfway or at the end of the season. They have Pedro De La Rosa in the car so I would expect a rookie since that’s the combination they seem to take.
Alguersuari would be a nice choice because I want to see him stay in F1, after all, he still is very young and isn’t that bad. An all spanish line up at a spanish team would please sponsors however and needing money, I can see that happening more than Petrov

Petrov may have $15 milllion but Alguersuari has however much Cepsa will pay AND money that Red Bull could pay (if they want someone racing they will clearly pay a lot of money) and could easily outbid Petrov

GPUpdate say that HRT will announce who their second driver is in the new year. Isn’t that awfully late? I know they aren’t going to be fighting for any championships in 2012, but it seems to me that leaving the decision so late can’t possibly help their cause.

Petrov may have $15 milllion but Alguersuari has however much Cepsa will pay AND money that Red Bull could pay (if they want someone racing they will clearly pay a lot of money) and could easily outbid Petrov

If Red Bull wanted Alguersuari racing, why did they drop him?

GPUpdate say that HRT will announce who their second driver is in the new year. Isn’t that awfully late?

The key word is “reveal”. Teams don’t always announce their drivers within half an hour of signing them up. For example, it is believed that Force India had di Resta and Hulkenberg signed up for weeks, but refrained from making an announcement because they didn’t want to say anything until Adrian Sutil made his plans for 2012.

Again, I beg to differ. HRT hasn’t decided yet and it’s not a priority, according to Perez-Sala:

We are in advanced talks with several drivers but we can’t anticipate anything yet. It’s a decision we surely won’t make until the start of next year because, at this stage, who will be the team’s second driver for next season is perhaps the least urgent one right now.